Historical evidence suggests that chamomile was valued for its medicinal properties as far back as the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Greece. It was commonly used to treat a host of ailments, from anxiety to indigestion. Chamomile herb tea continued to be highly regarded throughout the Middle Ages, when it became indispensible for other reasons, as well. Its strong, pleasantly pungent aroma made it the ideal “strewing herb”; it was scattered on the ground in public places as a primitive air freshener. Chamomile was also important in breweries, and was used prior to the wide availability of hops to give beer its characteristic bitterness. Throughout centuries of use, across several continents, chamomile continued to be valued and respected as an important part of medicine.

Many ancient “healing” techniques have been proven ineffective, or even harmful, by modern science; bloodlettings, the use of leeches, and magic spells have all been replaced by treatments that actually work. Chamomile, however, is quite different. Ancient healers trusted it, without any real knowledge of how or why it worked. Instead of proving it ineffective, scientific research has instead led to documented evidence of the properties of chamomile that make it a legitimate wellness remedy for a number of conditions. Perhaps most commonly known for its soothing properties, chamomile contains compounds that can relieve muscle spasms and relax the nerves. These compounds can ease the discomfort of mild aches and pains and provide an effective relief from stress and anxiety. Research has also shown that chamomile metabolizes into phenolic compounds, which have antibacterial and immune-boosting properties. It has also been shown to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. The active components in chamomile make it an ideal remedy for the symptoms of ailments like the common cold, allergies, insomnia, and arthritis. A topical salve made from chamomile can also be effective in treating conditions like eczema and hemorrhoids.

Chamomile has powerful medicinal properties; when consumed regularly, its effects are compounded. However, consuming a chamomile infusion won’t ever be confused with taking medicine. It has a distinctive flavor; it’s light, slightly tart, and fruity. If the flavor of chamomile by itself doesn’t suit your palate, you can still enjoy this healthy beverage in one of the many flavor blends available from a number of different brands. Chamomile mixes very well with many fruit infusions like peach and berry, as well as earthy herbal flavors like jasmine and lemongrass, and floral flavors like orange blossom and hibiscus. No matter what your taste preference is, there’s a chamomile tea that you will love. Enjoy a chamomile tisane any time you want to relax and feel better; consumed regularly, chamomile is an important part of your natural journey towards a healthier life. Because it’s an herbal infusion, chamomile is completely caffeine-free and a great way to encourage a restful and restorative night’s sleep; steep a cup of pure chamomile or an herbal blend and drink about half an hour before going to bed. Healthy, natural chamomile is a daily treat for a better life.

Tea is widely regarded as one of the healthiest beverages one can drink. However, there are thousands of different types of tea on the market, and some of these tea blends are healthier than others. Today, we’re going to help you determine which tea blends are good for your health and which ones are bad.

Dieting teas – do they really work?

Everybody likes to look for an easy way to lose weight. Unfortunately, losing weight is rarely easy. Dieters tea come in a number of different flavors and varieties. Unfortunately, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued warnings about dieters teas. They often contain very few healthy ingredients and are packed with sugar or artificial sweeteners. In many cases, the only diet-specific ingredients included in dieters teas is caffeine, which temporary increases your metabolism and helps your body burn fat. Aside from caffeine, most of these dieters teas are fuelled by hype and feature minimal results.

Many dieters teas contain ingredients like senna, aloe, buckthorn, and other plant-derived laxatives. The FDA has issued warnings about these ingredients due to their lack of effectiveness.

Instant teas

Many instant teas contain very little actual tea at all. Instead, they are packed with preservatives, artificial sweeteners, sugar, and other unhealthy compounds. While not all instant teas are bad, many of them can be dangerous for your health.

Watch out for these tea ingredients

Both dieters teas and instant teas contain strange ingredients that can negatively affect your health. Specifically, the FDA has warned against taking teas that include:

-Ephedra (used for weight loss)

-Willow bark

-Germander

-Comfrey

-Lobelia

-Chaparral

Teas with those ingredients will often advertise that ingredient prominently. Unfortunately, these ingredients have unknown (and possibly harmful) effects on the body, so think twice before drinking these types of tea.

Herbal teas

‘Herbal tea’ is a broad term for any tea containing fruits, herbs, seeds, roots, and other natural ingredients. Because herbal teas have lower concentrations of antioxidants than green, white, black, and oolong teas, their health benefits can vary.

Here are some of the features that science has linked to herbal teas:

-Chamomile tea has antioxidants that can reduce diabetes and lower the risk of nerve and kidney damage. Some studies have also shown that it stunts the growth of cancer cells.

-Echinacea herbal tea has been suggested as a way to stave off colds. However, research on Echinacea herbal teas has not demonstrated a clear link as of yet.

-Hibiscus herbal teas: Recent studies have found that drinking three cups of hibiscus tea on a daily basis can lower blood pressure for those who already have modestly elevated blood pressure.

-Rooibos: Medical studies on rooibos herbal tea have been limited, although rooibos tea does contain flavonoids that could help fight cancer and other diseases.

The healthiest tea to drink?

In general, tea is one of the healthiest beverages in the world. Most tea is strictly derived from the Camellia sinensis plant with only a few different flavorings added to give it a unique twist. Camellia sinensis is an incredibly healthy plant that has been linked to health benefits like reduced cholesterol levels and weight loss.

Any black, white, green, or oolong tea is derived from the camellia sinensis plant, which means that it is geranlly quite healthy. Tea is also healthiest when used in a ‘loose’ blend, as more surface area is exposed to the surrounding water, increasing the nutrients and antioxidants that are released.

With so many different types of tea in the world, it can be difficult to find the perfect type of tea for you. What is the world’s healthiest tea - black, green, white, or herbal?

As you might know, black, green, and white tea all comes from the same plant – the Camellia sinensis plant. Depending on the processing techniques used, Camellia sinensis can turn into black, green, or white tea.

The tea blends made from the Camellia sinensis plant have been linked to several powerful health benefits. Here are a few of the health benefits of black, green, and white tea blends:

-Weight loss (due to caffeine and other ingredients)

-Increased levels of antioxidants that target free radicals

-Polyphenols like flavonoids and catechins benefit various areas of your body

Some tea blends have specific benefits that other tea blends do not have. For example, black tea has been said to protect lungs from smoke damage and reduce the risk of a stroke. Black tea has the highest caffeine content and forms the basis for flavored teas like chai. In many cases, tea that has health benefits will simply be classified as wellness tea.

The rich antioxidants in green tea have also been said to combat all sorts of different diseases, including neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Since green tea is not oxidized as much as black or white tea, it generally tastes more natural.

Meanwhile, white tea has powerful anticancer properties that make it healthier than virtually any other type of tea, and oolong tea has been linked to lower cholesterol levels.

One of the most popular types of tea in terms of health benefits is Pu-erh tea. Made from fermented and aged tea leaves, China Pu-erh tea has been linked to reduced weight gain and lower levels of LDL cholesterol.

Herbal tea, on the other hand, is made from various herbs and spices. Although science has yet to research many of the benefits of herbal tea, herbal tea drinkers have reported a number of different benefits, including everything from positive mood changes to anticancer properties.

The answer

In short, all tea blends made from Camellia sinensis features similar health benefits. However, the way the tea is packed can affect its healthiness as well.

Tea experts suggest that loose tea blends are healthier than those packed in bags. In addition to being more flavorful, loose tea blends tend to contain more antioxidants. After all, tea bags limit the surface area of the leaves that is exposed to the water. With loose tea blends, the entire leaf is exposed, which means more nutrients and flavor is drawn into the surrounding water.

From the buzz and popularity around “super foods” to a wide range of vitamin supplements, Americans can’t seem to get enough of the trends in health and nutrition. The vitamin industry alone boasts hundreds of formulas: multivitamins, isolations of specific vitamins, vitamin combinations designed to target particular conditions and concerns, kids’ formulas, and compositions aimed at every stage of adulthood and activity level. Most supermarkets and health food stores have whole aisles devoted strictly to the wealth of vitamin products they offer. But what could potentially provide as many, if not more, health benefits are frequently found a few aisles away: herbal tea.

Technically, herbals teas aren’t actually teas; they come from a wide variety of plants around the world, but not the camellia sinensis plant that is the exclusive source of true teas. The vast range of plants that can be made into herbal teas, or tisanes, offer as vast an array of vitamins, chemicals, and compounds that are proven to offer myriad health benefits. For everything from occasional discomforts to chronic conditions like diabetes, there are teas that can ease severity and relieve symptoms of a host of ailments. Stomach upset, nausea, and digestive problems can be relieved with a tisane of ginger, peppermint, licorice root, or lemon. The antihistamine and immune-boosting properties of Echinacea makes it the ideal choice for fighting cold and allergy symptoms. Some tisanes, like chamomile, have soothing and calming characteristics; tisanes of Rhodiola and ginseng provide a boost in energy and vitality. Passionflower and lavender may alleviate the nagging pain of a headache.

While many conditions are incurable, herbal tisanes have been shown to be beneficial in helping to manage them and promote health. Diabetes, for example, can be very difficult to manage. Spikes in blood sugar can lead to a host of related health problems. Several herbals can help a diabetic manage his or her condition. Fenugreek may absorb excess sugar, preventing it from getting into the system; raspberry and bilberry infusions can help to lower blood sugar. Herbal infusions are helpful in easing the symptoms of a number of other chronic conditions, like irritable bowel syndrome, eczema, fibromyalgia, arthritis, and anxiety. Some herbs can relieve colic and digestive issues in infants; others can boost lactation for nursing mothers.

Tisanes are ideal treatments for a wide range of conditions and maladies. But they also offer preventive properties. Most herbals contain antioxidant compounds, which are known to destroy the free radicals that have carcinogenic characteristics. Nutrition experts recommend consuming foods high in antioxidants to help in the fight against cancer; most agree that getting your antioxidants, vitamins, and nutrients from natural, food-based sources is preferable to taking expensive supplements. Herbal tisanes are a convenient and easy way to load your diet with a variety of compounds to promote a healthful life. And unlike vitamin supplements, tisanes are delicious, too. They are available in a wide variety of flavors, from fruity choices to spicy options like cinnamon or ginger and a host of blends.

When it comes to tea preparation, this process is as important as the tea being brewed; you do not want to find yourself buying batch of premium teas and not enjoying a full potential of the tea. The beauty of loose leaf tea is that it is such a delicate substance that in order to unlock all of its flavors you need to be methodical about the brewing process. Like everything amazing, a great cup of tea begins with the best ingredients: your favorite tea, right temperature and time it needs to be brewed in, and something most might overlook, water. After all, every cup of tea is composed primarily of water so it is imperative to use the right kind of water to steep your favor cup of green tea, black tea, herbal tea or many others.

Alright, so I preached the importance of every ingredient involved in the preparation of your favorite cup of tea, and water is the topic of our discussion. Before you worry about how difficult or special the water might have to be for your tea, I want you to take a sip or two of chamomile herb tea (it tastes best with hint of dandelion honey), please stick with me. These days we are surrounded with an immense variety of aqua, from its origin to pH levels and calcium levels; all this fine and dandy but when paired with spoonful of Silver Needles white tea, you do not want to make any mistakes.

So before you put that kettle on the stove make sure of few key steps to prevent from making your tea dull and flavorless. Firstly, make sure you are using the purest water available to you, it might sound silly but many different location have different quality coming out of its tap; if you are not 100% confident that your tap water is best then I would advise to use filtration system, and you do not need to install an enormous water purifier or buy dozen of gallons of filtered water, instead use a simple water filter that eliminates the chlorine, salt, calcium, and any other heavy particles in water; essentially you are trying to make your water as “soft” as possible. While boiling water helps for all those heavy minerals and particles to descend it does not eliminate them. So what is the ideal water for brewing tea? Well, most experts agree that spring water, because of its purity, freshness, and high oxygen level. However, it might be difficult to find your local well or natural spring source in the middle of NYC. So why not give all those bottled waters a try, right? Yes and no, many of the bottled waters might have minerals added to them, or in case of distilled water it's so purified that is considered dead water.

So to wrap this up, be cautious what you prepare your tea with, and if you looking for a safe bet and you can’t get your hands on natural spring water, then use your tap water just make sure to filter out all heavy minerals and others additives that are in it.